3M Micro Professional Projector MPro110

It’s only the length of an iPhone; just don’t leave it in a back pocket and sit down.

The MPro110 could easily slip into a shirt pocket or stow away anywhere. Its candy-bar shape echoes its simplicity: There’s only an on/off switch, port for composite video, and physical focus adjustment. A small power adapter drives the unit, even recharging its included battery for truly mobile situations. We only got 50 minutes out of the battery--and there’s no warning as it’s running out--but it’s nice for short use.

The 640x480-pixel images are pushed out with LEDs, making this projector fear ambient light like a vampire. In a dark room, it kicks out enough brightness, playing a projection of about 3 feet. However, even then, colors start to fade; this unit never seems saturated enough. With normal room lighting, the projection is useless, and it’s inadequate for movies--versus high-contrast, static presentations--in a dimmed setting.

A triumph in portability, the MPro110 can be packed along anywhere. You’ll never get an excellent image, but its size mostly offsets that shortcoming, especially in darkness.

Moderate quality video in dark rooms. Silent. LED source said to last up to 10,000 hours. Absolutely tiny. Requires dark rooms for even muted color reproduction. Battery is a tease, lasting 50 minutes.